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The classroom was unusually quiet for once, though that wouldn’t last. Yuji was already tapping his fingers against the desk like he was about to combust from sheer boredom, Megumi sat stiffly with his arms crossed, his face already arranged into the deeply skeptical expression he reserved for anything Gojo did, and Nobara was leaning back in her chair, chewing loudly on a piece of gum with a look of pure disinterest.
Gojo, however, stood at the front, wearing his usual infuriating smirk, marker twirling between his fingers like this was just another one of his ridiculous games.
The whiteboard behind him was already filled with a mess of equations, integrals, and symbols that looked more like a curse inscription than anything remotely useful to them as sorcerers.
“Alright, kids,” he said, voice far too enthusiastic for whatever nonsense he was about to spout, “today’s lesson is a little different. We’re going to be talking about math.”
Three groans, simultaneous, perfectly synchronized, filled the room. Yuji let his head thunk against the desk dramatically. “Why?” he demanded, his voice muffled against the wood.
“We kill curses, we don’t do math.” Gojo ignored him. “Now, you may be wondering, why is your extremely handsome, ridiculously powerful, and—might I add—very kind teacher talking to you about math today?”
“No, we’re wondering if we have to listen to this,” Nobara said flatly.
“Oh, absolutely,” Gojo said, grinning. “Because, believe it or not, math is actually the foundation of Jujutsu techniques. Even your own.”
Megumi exhaled slowly through his nose, clearly trying to keep his patience. “What are you even talking about?”
“Ah, I love that question.” Gojo turned back to the board and, with an exaggerated flourish, pointed at a particularly large equation written at the top:
∫ e^(-x²) dx = √π
There was a long pause. Nobara stared blankly. Megumi looked at it like it had personally offended him. Yuji blinked several times, then leaned forward as if proximity would somehow make the symbols more comprehensible.
“That’s not even math,” Yuji declared. “That’s art.”
“Oh, I love that perspective!” Gojo beamed. “But actually, this is called the Gaussian integral, and it’s one of the most famous integrals in mathematics. You see, the problem with this integral is that it doesn’t have an elementary solution. You can’t just solve it normally.”
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“Then why are you showing it to us?” Nobara asked, exasperated.
“Because!” Gojo clapped his hands together. “The way you do solve it is interesting. You have to extend the function into multiple dimensions, use some sneaky tricks, and suddenly—boom, the answer appears.”
“So you don’t actually solve it,” Megumi muttered. “You cheat.”
Gojo gasped. “Megumi! I would never cheat. I just use different perspectives.” He winked, which only made Megumi sigh harder.
“Now,” Gojo continued, spinning back toward the board, “this actually relates to Jujutsu techniques more than you think. For example, my Limitless technique? It’s literally an application of calculus.”
“Oh, come on,” Yuji groaned. “This again?”
“You’ve seen it in action,” Gojo said, undeterred. “Limitless works because I divide space infinitely, creating an effect where objects slow down as they approach me. It’s like a mathematical function approaching a limit—it gets closer and closer, but never actually reaches.”
He drew a new equation:
lim (x → ∞) 1/x = 0
“This is an example of a limit,” he explained. “No matter how large x gets, one divided by x will never actually reach zero. It just keeps getting smaller and smaller, forever.”
“That’s exactly how it feels fighting you,” Megumi muttered. “An endless waste of effort.”
Gojo grinned. “Aw, you do think about me.”
“Stop.”
“But this is why it’s so important. Mathematics is the language of infinity. My technique is infinity. You see, my ability is based on Zeno’s Paradoxes—"
“You’re making that up,” Yuji accused.
“Oh-ho, I wish I were.” Gojo turned back to the board and started scribbling again. “Zeno’s Paradoxes are a set of thought experiments from ancient Greece, and they basically argue that motion is an illusion. The most famous one is Achilles and the Tortoise. Achilles, the fastest runner, gives a slow tortoise a head start. Every time Achilles reaches where the tortoise was, the tortoise has moved slightly ahead. Even though he’s faster, he’s always catching up, never actually reaching.”
“That’s stupid,” Nobara said immediately. “Achilles just runs past the tortoise. Boom. Done.”
“Ah, but mathematically, if you divide the distance infinitely, it seems like he never reaches.” Gojo spun to face them again, eyes gleaming behind his blindfold. “That’s exactly what happens with Limitless. I divide space infinitely, so nothing ever reaches me. That’s why it works. My technique is just a real-world application of a paradox.”
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The room was silent for a moment. Yuji squinted at the board, face scrunched in confusion.
Megumi rubbed his temples. Nobara leaned over to Yuji and whispered, “Did you understand any of that?”
“No,” Yuji whispered back. “But I think it means Gojo is basically a math equation.”
“Oh my god.”
“Oh my god yes!” Gojo interrupted gleefully. “Finally, you understand me!”
“That’s not what I said.”
“Too late, you admitted it.”
“Can we talk about something that actually matters?” Megumi asked, his patience clearly running out. “How does this apply to us?”
“Great question,” Gojo said. “Let’s talk about domain expansion.” That caught their attention, albeit reluctantly. “Domain expansions are essentially functions. They take an input—you, your cursed energy—and transform it into an output, which is your expanded space. The mathematical term for this is a mapping, where one set of values is transformed into another set of values. For example—"
More writing, more symbols. The board was quickly becoming incomprehensible.
f: X → Y
“This is the general form of a function. X is the domain, Y is the range, and the function f takes elements from X and transforms them into Y. Now, in Jujutsu terms—X is your raw cursed energy, Y is the final shaped domain, and f is the process of creating the domain. Your technique acts like the equation that determines how your cursed energy manifests.” He turned, staring directly at Megumi now. “Your Chimera Shadow Garden? It’s a function that takes your energy and reshapes it into a field of shadows that obey certain mathematical properties.”
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Megumi visibly tensed. “What properties?”
“Topology!” Gojo said brightly, as if that was a normal thing to say. “Your domain is essentially a topological space, meaning it has continuity and shape properties that persist even when stretched or distorted. The reason you can sink enemies into the shadows is because your domain fundamentally alters the topology of space within it, making your shadow function as an extension of dimensionality.”
“...I regret asking.”
“Oh, don’t worry, it gets way worse.” Gojo turned to Yuji. “Now, your case is really interesting because, well, Sukuna.”
Yuji winced. “Don’t remind me.”
“Oh, but I must,” Gojo insisted. “You see, technically speaking, you and Sukuna exist in a complex plane.”
“The what?”
“The complex plane! It’s the mathematical space where both real and imaginary numbers exist. Sukuna and you are like a function with two components—one real, one imaginary. You shift between them depending on certain variables.” He scribbled again.
z = x + iy
“This is the general form of a complex number. You are the real part, x, and Sukuna is the imaginary part, iy. Your soul is essentially a complex function that oscillates between these two states based on external stimuli. That’s why sometimes you can resist him, and sometimes you can’t—it’s all about the function’s behavior in different conditions.”
Yuji looked like he wanted to throw himself out the window. “I hate this.”
“You love this.”
“I hate this.”
“That’s just what someone in denial would say.”
Yuji groaned loudly and turned toward Megumi. “Help me.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Nobara?”
“I checked out of this conversation fifteen minutes ago.”
“You guys suck.”
Gojo, looking immensely pleased with himself, clapped his hands. “Well, I think this has been a great lesson. Now, any questions?” Silence. Heavy, unbearable silence.
Finally, Nobara asked, “Can I punch you?”
“Ooooh, great question! But no.”
Yuji raised a hand. “Can we please go now?”
Gojo tapped his chin, pretending to consider it. “Mmm... nope.”
And with that, the suffering continued.